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Effective pitching or telling a compelling startup story can take many hours of practice to perfect, is honed and shaped by feedback coming from diverse perspectives, and can require a different kind of courage than in actually building your startup. One of the most important things inevitably, is to start. Pitching early and often lets you get comfortable with telling your story in a natural, conversational way; receive feedback like a pro; and find ways to process and integrate comments without losing sight of your company’s vision and your personal momentum and drive.

These are the sentiments I had in mind when I submitted an application to pitch Innov8social, an engagement platform that connects people that want to create social impact with actionable tools and resources on ways to create impact, to a panel of 5 VC judges at Pitch2Sharks in San Francisco. The pitch event was a valuable and insightful experience. And though I have heard many startup pitches (and serve as a judge at times), I learned a great deal from being in the hot seat both about pitching, and about pitching a social enterprise startup.

As social entrepreneurs explore how and where to pitch their startup ideas, I thought it might be useful to share what I learned from my experience of pitching a social enterprise startup here.

1. Define success, then decide if it’s the right time to pitch

It can be helpful to define what success looks like to you before pitching. It’s a way to set expectations and also to be able to process critical feedback in a constructive way.

Since it was the first time pitching Innov8social to investors, and that too at a public event, I decided early on that showing up, not freezing or melting mid-sentence, and articulating my key points with clarity and confidence would be success. Those things fortunately happened, though I did read much of my pitch which the judges mentioned, and I left feeling satisfied and glad for the experience.

Had I set the goal of receiving funding and/or doubling my social media followership, I could have left feeling pretty lousy about the situation, and may have missed the incredible value of getting feedback from a group of people who listen to numerous startup pitches regularly, and that too fund a few too. A comment or insight from them could potentially inform my pitch in meaningful, impactful way, that could save me time and effort effort ahead.

2. Pitch events can be a great way to start…

Depending on the stage of your social enterprise startup and your goals, a pitch event could be a great way to start pitching. If you select the opportunity wisely, you can pitch at an event that aligns well with your social enterprise startup’s mission, or is for startups at the same stage you are in, or features a VC or judge you particularly want to engage.

A pitch event can also be a bit more of a ‘safe space’ to test out your pitch and receive some initial feedback. Before you hear more fierce, unapologetic criticisms that VC’s can be famous for at pitch meetings, a pitch event can provide you a platform to share your startup story and get feedback, all in an abbreviated timeframe.

For my experience in pitching Innov8social, it was a great place to start pitching and I learned as much by what the VC’s didn’t ask as by what they did. It gave me some quick investor feedback of what was conveyed in my pitch and what may have been unclear or ambiguous.

3. …but DON’T expect an investment

From my experience in attending dozens of pitch events over the past half-decade, one thing I have noticed (and have even asked startup founders about) is whether they expect investments from pitch events. The consensus seems to be a pretty consistent no. Some pitch events, by default, however, do offer a prize to the winning pitch. Winning a pitch event comes with the bragging rights, that can be shared not only over social media and the company website, but at future pitches to potential investors as well.

But even without an investment or a win, a pitch can be the start of potential connections. Whether it is building relationship with one of the VC panelists, with someone in the audience, or the event organizer—those relationships may actually be incredibly valuable as you progress and grow your social enterprise.

4. DO plan to educate your audience/judges about the concept of social entrepreneurship

Perhaps one of my biggest takeaways was that as social enterprise startups, we are wise to explain and contextualize social enterprise in a simple, easy to follow way within our pitches. Since social entrepreneurship is a growing space, VC’s or audience members may not have heard of related buzzwords in the field, and frankly, may come away thinking you are pitching as a nonprofit. If you are, that’s not a problem, but if you are trying to show a for-profit business model, potential of growth, scale, and revenue potential and/or relay the double or triple bottom line—this may be problematic. Especially since you might not even realize the confusion until the pitch is all but over.

Better, is to be proactive and avoid assuming your audience’s familiarity with the social entrepreneurship space. As a still-emerging and evolving space, social entrepreneurs are also ambassadors of social entrepreneurship. We have to find easy and accessible ways to explain how impact and business models can co-exist and even thrive.

5. DO use your pitch experience to THINK BIGGER about your social enterprise startup

One of the undeniable advantages of pitching to VC’s—who have likely heard hundreds of pitches, is that in just a few words or with a question or two—they can help you think bigger about your company, goals, and process. I was asked about Innov8social’s traction and value proposition. Though I had mapped it out, in the context of hearing the other pitches and understanding the viewpoint of the judges, their questions actually helped me to think bigger about the scope and potential of our work.

So, as ever, it’s a good rule of thumb to pitch your social enterprise startup early and often. If you can take the good, the bad, and the ugly in stride you will be able to effectively iterate and improve your pitch and may even gain new clarity about your startup’s path to success.

From the engaging follow-up questions and spirited conversation during the presentation, I thought it might be useful to share the slides and key learnings here too.

1. There are legal structures for social entrepreneurship.

This topic was one of the inspirations of founding Innov8social—i.e. to follow the progress and explore the potential of various legal structures including benefit corporations, social purpose corporations, limited low-profit liability companies (L3C’s), and various combinations thereof. These legal structures are intended to form companies founded on principles of creating impact as well as generating profit. These new structures serve to expand the ‘bottom line’ focus of a company to a double or triple bottom line (i.e. people, planet, profits) and in doing so, expand the stakeholders to which a company owes a legal duty from shareholders to stakeholders such as the environment and community as well.

2. There are business models for social entrepreneurship.

We often say that a legal structure is a “glove” meant to fit the business goals and model of a venture. With that in mind, founders should know that business models are emerging to serve social impact ventures. Models such as buy one give one, or 1%-1%-1%, or dedicating a percentage of revenue to non-profit/policy entities, or pay-what-you-can models are gaining ground as ways to easily explain and account for impact and profit.

3. There are funding options for social entrepreneurship.

Traditional funding options such as loans, grants, and venture capital can be applicable to social enterprises; however, sometimes the dual goals of impact and profit can make these hard sells for social ventures. There is also a growing body of funding options that can serve social entrepreneurs well—these include impact investors (who actively seek a return on impact and profit on their investments), Program-Related Investments (“PRI’s”) powered by foundations, and the use of crowdfunding (both donation-based and investment-based) to validate and fund social impact companies.

4. Social entrepreneurship isn’t just a way of doing business — it is also a mindset.

Since countries such as the US do not legally define social enterprise per se, that term along with social entrepreneurship and social innovation are often used to describe various legal structures and business models (for-profit and nonprofit). With this broad application, social entrepreneurship signifies a mindset as much as a specific type of venture. In fact, social entrepreneurs are often described as those seeking business-minded solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. They employ methodologies of entrepreneurship and ‘lean’ approach to startups in building revenue models and impact potential. This mindset is a way to problem-solve and calls on the problem-solver to consider and account for multiple end goals, and to do so with accountability and transparency.

5. You are NOT alone! There are resources, tools, and communities to help you reach your profit and impact goals.

If there is one thing to emphasize, it is that social entrepreneurs (and those aspiring to be) are NOT alone! Being an entrepreneur is challenging, add the additional goal of creating impact— and the path to success can feel distant and even lonely. However, there is an ever-strengthening ecosystem of support emerging and evolving to better meet the needs and challenges of social entrepreneurs.

A few leading resources for social innovation and social entrepreneurship:

Here are Prezi slides from the talk

https://www.innov8social.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/ABC4529.jpg27476016neetalhttps://www.innov8social.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/logo_web.pngneetal2015-07-12 21:11:222015-09-25 23:39:205 Things Every Founder Should Know About Social Entrepreneurship

Recap: 8 Audiobooks Every Social Entrepreneur Should Hear

This candid, honest memoir is not only well-written, but compelling read by Amanda herself. Based on her 2013 TED Talk, this memoir tells the story of her journey as a musician, artist, an entrepreneur but also her reveals her mindset of creating impact through engagement. Whether wordlessly asking for a donation as a human statue or using social media to find a place to stay, or reaching out to her fans to crowdfund her music, she asks and does so unabashedly. I was struck by her unambiguous message told with honesty, vulnerability, and humor—Ask. often, honestly, and authentically.

If we’re being honest, I was unexpectedly blown away by this audiobook. Perhaps I was anticipating a formal, even academic, account of a US Supreme Court Justice’s journey to the golden bench. This incredibly well-written, personal, and moving account shifted my course and commitment to pursue my calling. From administering her own insulin shots from the age of 9 as a Type 1 diabetic, Sonia (aka Justice Sotomayor) surprises, enlightens, and inspires with her personal stories of difficult realities at home, her unfettered pursuit of excellent, and her one-of-a-kind journey (as a woman, minority, diabetic, etc.) to the highest court.

I hadn’t heard of Francesco before listening his book, and now I find his story and resolve unforgettable in every way. Francesco tells his story of a random pool accident that resulted in paralysis from the neck below, all at the age of 24. His gritty, honest, detailed account of the hours, weeks, and months after the accident not only showcase how precious every moment we have is, but also his innate resolve to persevere amid challenge. It’s this same quality that leads Francesco to find new treatments and ways to improve his health, and to become the founder of Clark’s Botanicals–a skin care line designed especially for individuals with extremely sensitive skin.

This audiobook is a perfect example of the potential of powerful impact storytelling. I knew very little about bonobos, a member of the ape family found only in a particular region of the Congo Basin in Central Africa. However, with Vanessa’s personal stories lined with her unique observations of the goings-on at the sanctuary, her relationship with her now-husband, and the personalities of each of the bonobos with whom she interacted, the Congo and the need to protect the bonobos came to life in a new way. As an animal lover, I appreciated the small details about the rescues and the findings, and may have even blushed when Vanessa so casually described bonobo interactions that are as common as a human handshake.

This honest, thoughtfully-organized, and entertaining memoir read by the author is a delight, especially for any fellow fans of Shark Tank. We hear Barbara tell stories of growing up as one of fourteen children, to moving to New York City, and taking bold steps to establish herself as an adult and an entrepreneur. Her storytelling is very accessible and direct, and her tales reveal simple but powerful aspects of entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurs need to survive as entrepreneurs in order to make sustained impact, and this is a wonderful account of what it takes to make it above all odds.

How does a very public person survive very personal challenges—if you are Robin Roberts, you do so with openness, heart, and strength. Former athlete and current Good Morning America co-host, Robin tells the story of her cancer reoccurrence and treatment—all which took place at the same time her beloved mother passed away. As someone who has gone through the loss of my mother to cancer, it was touching and inspiring to see how Robin found strength to persevere and to hear her resounding message to “make your mess your message” in her own voice.

This engaging book may have creativity in its title, but it is as informative on important aspects of leadership, team-building, entrepreneurship, and scaling as well. Ed tells the story of Pixar–from its early days to its post-Toy Story and post-multi billion dollar acquisition by Disney. What makes this book special is that at its heart, Pixar tells stories for children and adults. Authors Ed and Amy disarm this account by being able to toggle from high-stakes business meetings to how Woody’s character changed from early renderings to be less mean.

Wouldn’t it be great to have an index to amazing TED Talks along with a review of key aspects on why they were so effective? Talk Like TED is precisely that resource. I only wish the audiobook version would interrupt Carmine’s narrative to insert the aforementioned TED Talks, and then continue so I could catch all of the references. This however definitely led me to look up various TED Talks and examine them more closely for their powerful storytelling features.

And one more thing

These authors / artists / comedians are masterful storytellers that tell stories through the lens of humor. Even as they elicit a chuckle, they may also be imparting some of their deepest wisdoms or toughest life experiences. The quality of being able to laugh at our own situations is powerful, engaging, inclusive, and well— contagious.

You can take my word for it, or I highly recommend you check out authors including: Sloane Crosley, Mindy Kaling, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, David Sedaris, Nora Ephron, Sarah Silverman, Carol Burnett, and BJ Novak. I have thoroughly enjoyed and learned a great deal from their audiobooks. And perhaps because their narrations were so effective, I might be even walking around with the mistaken belief that we’re actually friends in real life :)

Ready to kick off your summer reading? Mike Essex of Koozai created this awesome guide to savvy, creative business books to make explain new ways of thinking, challenge existing paradigms, and put you in an entrepreneurial mindset. Enjoy!

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Miss an Innov8Social interview? Here is a list of Innov8Social interviews with thinkers and doers in social innovation—including social entrepreneurs, members of academia, attorneys, legislators, media personalities, impact funders, and those in search of solutions.

On June 18th, MIT-Stanford Venture Lab (VLAB) hosted its monthly event on virtual currencies, titled “Virtual Currencies: Gold Rush or Fools’ Gold. The Rise of Bitcoin in a Digital Economy” at the Stanford Law School campus, Munger Conference Center of Paul Brest Hall.For social entrepreneurs, virtual currencies represent new potential for the democratization and distribution of funds to further local and international work. As startups such as Coinbase, Ripple, and dozens of others, are building payment rails & making math-based currencies more accessible and usable for a broader base of users—there is a real opportunity for social enterprise to take notice and action as early adopters. This can be through accepting funding via bitcoin or other math-based currency, transacting via virtual currency, building crowdfunding sites that allow portions of raises to be made in bitcoin, and/or at the least become knowledgable about the topic and exploring its potential.To crowd of standing room only, the panel explored the topic of virtual currencies through various vantage points, with a focus on actionable discovery for entrepreneurs, technologists, and investors. The panel, pictured below, from the left included: Chris Larsen (CEO and Co-Founder, OpenCoin, the company developing the Ripple protocol), Fred Ehrsam (Co-Founder of Coinbase, a digital Bitcoin wallet), Wendy Cheung (Director of Compliance and BSA Officer, Silicon Valley Bank), Cameron Winklevoss (Principal Investor at Winklevoss Capital) and Tyler Winklevoss (Principal Investor at Winklevoss Capital)

Event brochure

Virtual currencies (aka math-based or digital currencies or cryptocurrencies) are emerging forms and units of digital transaction, outside the realm of government regulation (so far, anyway). They usually can be transacted with virtual anonymity, and be transacted globally fairly quickly.

Bitcoin is the first such digital currency to gain traction. Created by a developer or group of developers named Satoshi Nakamoto (pseudonym) in 2009, today there are 11M bitcoins in circulation and the current market for Bitcoin already tops $1.5B. The currency itself is quite unique. Bitcoin are created (or “mined”) by computers completing complicated algorithms. The first to solve the algorithm and achieve the closest answer effectively claims an allocation of bitcoin. This goes on until the outer limit of 21M bitcoin are mined.

VLAB Executive Chair, Ron Chavez, welcomes the audience

VLAB is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit comprised of volunteers who pitch topic ideas that span innovation and disruptive technology and work in small teams to understand the space, identify controversies, and form an engaging panel.

Featured speaker, economist, and Stanford Business School professor Susan Athey introduces virtual currencies as an economic concept.

Professor Athey focused on four unique uses of virtual currencies as: a way to store value (especially in light of inflationary currencies); as a ledger; as a method of making anonymous transactions, and possibly as a basis for government monetary policy.

Hill, whose work has lately focused on digital privacy took on a unique challenge in early May. She lived only on bitcoin for one week. She recapped challenges such as finding retail food locations beyond Cups and Cakes Bakery and Sake Zone sushi in SF. She recalled how things got interesting when her landlord didn’t accept rent in Bitcoin, causing Hill to have to find BTC-friendly housing for a few days.

VC’s Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss commented on the scope they see for math-based currencies as a disruptor to industries such as remittance. They own approximately 1% of bitcoin in circulation, and most recently funded a Bitcoin startup called BitInstant.

Wendy Cheung of Silicon Valley Bank spoke about state and federal compliance concerns relevant to bitcoin and math-based currency startups. SV Bank currently works with a number of startup companies in this space.

Fred Ehrsam (second from left) touched on unique challenges as a startup in the space. He co-founded Coinbase after noting efficiencies of current systems as a foreign exchange trader on Wall Street. Coinbase has had to navigate through the compliance and regulatory requirements and is poised to become the leading bitcoin wallet on the market.

Audience members could text in questions that were fed to the moderator’s iPad. Kashmir selected a few to ask to the panel and noted common questions. Of these a few popular questions were—directed to the Winklevoss investors—whether their firm would ever fund a startup using Bitcoin. Other questions asked about how mining for bitcoin actually works, and yet others touched on inherent limitations of a finite curency (i.e. There will be a total of 21M bitcoin available to be mined).

You can view the video of the virtual currencies event when it is posted here.

It was a wonderful experience co-chairing the event team for the virtual currencies panel with Frank Martinez (far right). A huge thank you and recognition to event team members including Edward, Jerry, Richard, Jenny, Tony, Lisha, Chethana, Prashant, Geeta, Luca, Jeanne, Michelle, and marketing team Siejen, Chitrak, Tom, Jae and the broader VLAB community.

Entrepreneurs of any feather, including (and perhaps especially) social entrepreneurs need to be able to explain their concept, the problem it solves, and the vision ahead clearly and succinctly. We talked about the ABP (always be pitching) approach earlier.dThe reason it is particularly important for social entrepreneurs to nail down their ‘elevator’ pitch (i.e. being able to deliver your pitch during the time equivalent to an elevator ride) is because social entrepreneurs are often operating in a double or triple-bottom line setting, or with a defined mission in mind.

This infographic by InvestorPitches, breaks down a winning pitch into small, digestible parts. Though the visual is framed for startups pitching for VC or angel funding, the tips and approach are applicable in a number of settings.

The field of social innovation, impact entrepreneurship, social enterprise is expanding at an incredible pace. It is a moving stream of information, barreling forward…in a hurry.

For a blogger, that can a unique challenge. You know that what you pen today may be outdated by the time you hit “publish”. However, the dynamic nature of blogs (and the ability to update them) is a silver lining and can make our work more agile.

Blogging in the space, we learn tremendous amounts from other blogs that focus on different niches, hone in on discerning nuances, structure their information distinctly, adopt unique takes on design, and bring something wholly their own flavor to the social innovation table.

With the caveat that this list will be updated as new blogs come to, here are a few interesting blogs in the social innovation space to check out.

We would love to hear your picks and favorites (and even your #socinn blog titles) in the comments.

40+ Blogs on Social Innovation, Impact Entrepreneurship, and Social Enterprise You Should Check Out

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This year, for the first time, SSV is leveraging a competition style entry process (in addition to its regular registration) with professional review by a panel experts. The competition will also including a crowdsourcing component which will open up voting for solutions to the general public.

What Do I need to Know Before Applying?

There is no cost for applying.

The deadline for submissions has been extended to Thursday, January 31st, 2013.

Finalists will receive recognition, marketing resources, as well as the opportunity to deliver their pitches in front of VC’s, angel investors, and NASA Ames experts. There is a possibility for a cash prize as well.

Solutions should be comprehensive—specifying technology, policy, processes, and ability to scale within a community, city, country, and even globally.

Solutions can be at any stage—they can exist at the idea level, or be further along.

What is the Timeline for the Competition?

Submit a Solution: Oct 1, 2012 to Jan 31, 2013

Vote for Solutions: Feb 1, 2013 to Feb 22, 2013

Finalists Announced: March 7, 2013 (evening event)

Showcase Conference: All day May 23, 2013

How to Submit a Sustainability Solution

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